In Love With an Oblivious Genius
by thatflyingbrunette
Summary: Steve Rogers has a huge crush on Tony Stark, and everyone except Tony knows it. This situation leaves the Avengers with only one obvious thing to do, which is put Steve in as many awkward situations with Tony as possible, and maybe get them together in the process! One sided Stony, possible pre-slash, and lots of bromance.
1. The Avengers Find Out

**Hey there! So I honestly love one-sided crushes which probably prompted this idea in my head. But fear not, hardcore Stony shippers, it may not be one-sided forever, but I haven't decided yet. There will be lots of bromance though, and moments that can definitely be seen as pre-slash. Aw Steve and I agree that Tony is just so lovable!**

xxx

Steve felt his heart beating faster as Tony leaned near him, talking about his newest invention. It was just another day in Avengers Tower, and Steve and the rest of the Avengers were in the lab, wasting time as another day went by without any otherworldly danger on Earth.

"So here I placed the magnet to this service receptor, which will help it maintain a constant rate of reliability. The point is to make it easier for my suit to hold charge, which is why I connected these wires around the input device…" Tony's tech talk soon became background noise to Steve, and he ended up staring intently at Tony's lips as he spoke.

Luckily, Tony didn't notice. He never did.

Steve relished the way Tony's eyes lit up when he talked about science and his inventions, even if Steve didn't understand any of it. In Cap's opinion, it made Tony look adorable and more carefree. Steve loved it when Tony was happy.

Steve was also distinctly aware of how close Tony was sitting next to him on the bench. As Tony explained his creation, he would gesture at various parts of it, not realizing he was leaning in very close to Steve as he inspected the machine. Steve noticed every time their knees brushed, and how good the tight black shirt Tony was wearing looked on him.

Tony suddenly reached around Steve to grab his glass of water, and Steve fought to keep his face neutral. However, that was proved even harder to do when he felt Tony leave his arm wrapped around Steve' shoulders after he put his glass back.

He looked at Tony, who looked frustrated as he prodded the machine with his other hand. Tony's arm was around Steve in such a casual and careless manner that Steve wondered if Tony would ever realize how much it affected him.

Steve had a sudden desire to lean in against the warmth of Tony's body, but quickly expunged the thought from his mind. That would be just asking for embarrassment, especially since the rest of the Avengers were there too.

Speaking of his teammates, Steve suddenly noticed Natasha elbowing Clint, and saw Thor watching them with a small smile. Steve suddenly felt self-conscious, and he tried to tell himself that there was no way they suspected anything.

"So what do you think?" Steve suddenly realized Tony was addressing him. Since he hadn't been listening, he didn't have an adequate response, making him feel like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Umm.." Tony grinned, and Steve realized that Tony had already known he wasn't listening. Steve allowed himself a small smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, I just don't really get any of that stuff. I mean, I can barely work the phone you gave me." Steve chuckled, looking slightly abashed.

"I can help you with that sometime, if you want." Tony said as he stood up and began cleaning up the mess on the table he had been working on. Steve immediately missed Tony's arm around him, but nonetheless stood up as well.

"Yeah. That'd be great." Steve replied. Tony smiled at him and Steve felt his heart flutter.

Steve was embarrassed to realize that the feelings he had for Tony had gradually escalated to the point where even a smile from Tony Stark left butterflies in his stomach. Steve finally admitted to himself that he was completely infatuated with the genius billionaire.

xxx

Steve watched as Tony walked out of the lab, wishing he didn't feel so helpless in the daily struggle of just being around Stark and having to conceal his feelings. He had completely forgotten about the rest of the Avengers behind him, until he felt a tap on his back from Natasha.

"Hey," She said, a hint of a smile on her lips. Steve wasn't sure why they were all looking at him like they knew something he didn't, or why Clint seemed about ready to burst out laughing.

"Hi…? Do you need something?" Steve said, thoroughly confused.

"Oh just come out with it already!" Clint said, grinning. "It's so obvious, even Thor noticed!"

Steve was still perplexed on what he was talking about, and he noticed Thor trying to decide if what Clint said was an insult or not. Natasha nudged Clint, threateningly gesturing for him to shut up.

"Uh.." Steve oh so eloquently responded. He felt like a moron since he didn't have the faintest idea what they were so excited about.

"Well, we were wondering..." Natasha began, "if maybe you have a crush on Tony?" She finished, looking him with teasing sparkles in her eyes.

Steve eyes widened and he felt himself turning red, hating himself for it as his teammates starting laughing and whooping.

"Aww look at that, Steve is blushing!" Clint said, the grin never leaving his face.

Steve desperately wanted to say something, but felt overwhelmed by all of them crowding around him at once. Bruce smiled and looked at Steve reassuringly, while Natasha's lips twitched at Steve's embarrassment and discomfort.

"You wish to court the Man of Iron?" Thor asked enthusiastically. He looked about to continue when Steve interjected.

"N-no. No. I don't know what you're talking about." Steve said, shakily at first, and then more resolutely.

"Whatever, Cap. It's so obvious you might as well wear a neon sign on your forehead proclaiming your undying love for him." Clint said matter-of-factly, smirking.

Steve's gut tightened at Barton's statement, and he felt his jaw slacken in shock. Was he really that obvious?

"Don't worry, Tony doesn't know. For a genius, he's the most oblivious person I know. He probably wouldn't suspect a thing unless you straight up told him, and even then, maybe not." Bruce said kindly, sensing Steve's inner turmoil and distress.

"Probably because he's so self-absorbed." Natasha commented, chuckling. "But it's okay, Steve, your secret's safe with us."

Steve looked at his friends warily; he still had fear in his mind that Tony would find out and hate him because of it.

He would fully entrust his life in the Avengers' hands during a battle, but with a secret? Not so much. How long until one of them accidentally tells Tony about Steve's not-so-little crush on him?

xxx

Later that same day, Director Fury called the Avengers for an unexpected debriefing. It wasn't too unusual of an occurrence because he often held meetings to inform them of new happenings or just to make sure everything was still in order in the Tower.

Steve was usually the most punctual of the Avengers, so he was surprised when there were only two empty chairs remaining at the conference table when he arrived. He was rightfully suspicious, his wariness solidifying as he saw hands covering the smiles and smirks of his teammates.

It was 10 minutes after the debriefing was supposed to start, and Tony Stark was still not there. Not that it surprised anyone, after all, Tony gave a new meaning to 'fashionably late'. He was late even when there was no need to be fashionable, such as this very instance.

Finally Tony Stark sauntered in, glancing at everyone around the room and then directing his gaze to his watch.

"I would say I'm sorry to be late, but honestly, I'm not sorry." He said. Steve felt a flicker of a smile appear on his face at the comment, but he immediately dispelled it in case someone was watching.

Fury looked irritated and annoyed, which is pretty much the same way he always looks when Tony is around. "Sit down, Stark. One of these days there is going to be a consequence for you always being late."

Tony shrugged and spread his hands like it wasn't his fault, and then sat down at the only available seat, which happened to be right next to Steve.

Steve futilely tried to ignore Clint's smirk from across the table. Now he understood why they had come early; it was so Tony and Steve would be forced to sit next to each other. Otherwise, they had to have known Steve would've purposely sat as far away from Stark as possible, in order to avoid these awkward teasing glances from his teammates.

Fury soon began the meeting, and it was indeed as boring as was expected. Steve made many attempts to listen, but it was so easy to zone out and just watch Tony as he worked out equations for a new program he was creating instead.

Steve admired the way he would close his eyes for a moment when he did complicated mental calculations, and how he would bite his lip in irritation when the equation wasn't solved perfectly. Steve also took interest in Tony's slanted and rushed handwriting, making what he was writing look like a blur of letters, numbers, and various mathematical signs.

"Tony! Are you even listening?" Fury suddenly asked angrily. Steve immediately stopped staring at Stark, sitting up and hoping he looked like he was paying attention.

"Nope." Tony replied, popping the P. He barely glanced up from the equation he was solving, making it evident he wasn't interested in the meeting at all.

"Steve, tell Tony what I've been talking about." Fury sighed, thinking he could trust that the goody two-shoes would have been listening.

For the second time that day, Steve was left with nothing to respond with. "Uh..." Steve tried to think back to the last thing he heard, but he couldn't remember any of it. "I don't know, sir. Sorry."

Fury looked momentarily surprised. "Not you too? I thought I could count on you, of all people."

Steve felt kind of guilty for not living up to his expectations, but he didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent.

Clint chuckled, and Steve looked up, wondering what was funny. "Well you know, he's kind of _distracted_ , if you know what I mean." The other Avengers snickered, immediately realizing what he was implying.

Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing. Tony was _right there_! And here Clint was, making suggestive comments about his biggest secret like it was nothing.

With his heart beating fast, Steve quickly stole a glance at Tony. He was still completely absorbed in the task he was working on, so chances are he didn't hear any of what Barton said. Relief washed over Steve, but he couldn't help glaring at Clint just a little bit.

Clint grinned widely in return, and Steve was forced to turn back to Fury and listen to the rest of the debriefing, thoroughly ignoring Clint and trying to not pay attention to Tony.

Trying and failing, of course.

xxx

After the debriefing was over, everyone quickly went their separate ways, glad to escape from the torturous meeting. Steve walked into his bedroom, not sure what he wanted to do, but positive he didn't want to be around any of the other Avengers.

He wasn't sure if he could handle their knowing smirks right now.

So, he did the first thing that came to mind, the thing he often did when he was feeling restless or bored. Grabbing his sketch book, he sat down on his bed, and began to draw.

He wasn't actually sure what he was drawing, but he let the pencil take itself where it wanted to go, making crude lines and graceful curves. He watched the smooth flowing of the pencil on paper, and felt his mind relax.

That is, until he heard the knock on the door.

"Yeah? Come in," Steve answered politely, even though on the inside he was really hoping it wasn't Clint or someone coming to tease him. However, as much as Steve wanted to be rude, manners always came first to him.

He was surprised when the door opened to reveal Tony, who walked in holding up what looked like Steve's cell phone. Cap quickly shut his sketchbook, thinking about the numerous pictures of Tony inside of it, and then sat up in a more dignified position, haphazardly shoving the book underneath his pillow.

Tony didn't notice Steve's moment of panic. He had come because he had something important to ask Steve.

"Is there a reason I found the phone I so thoughtfully gave you in the _fridge?_ " Tony's tone sounded like it was meant be reprimanding, but the amused look on Tony's face proved he wasn't serious.

"What?" Steve honestly hadn't used that cell phone in months, not after the first incident with it when he accidentally deleted all the contacts and apps Tony had installed on it for him. He still hadn't told Tony about that, he conveniently remembered.

"Phone. In the fridge. That's a no-no, Capsicle." Tony talked slowly, as if talking to a child.

"I- uh, that wasn't me. I didn't put it there. It was probably Barton as a prank or something," He said hurriedly, not wanting Tony to think he was stupid.

As the words left Steve's mouth, he realized how likely it was that it actually was Clint, in another attempt to make them talk by having Tony deliver his phone back to him. Surprisingly, Steve felt kind of thankful for Clint's scheme. He wouldn't ever pass up a chance to be with Tony.

"Makes sense," Tony nodded, giving the phone a once-over, and then said, "Lucky for you, it wasn't in the fridge long enough to damage it. Here you go," He handed the phone back to Steve, who's fingers tingled as their hands brushed.

"Thanks," Steve said. Tony looked like he was about to leave, when he suddenly stopped as if he had an idea.

"Hey, do you want me to teach you some of the basics of your phone now? Good a time as ever," Tony offered, remembering that he had told Steve he would earlier.

Steve felt warmness in his chest and he was secretly glad Tony wasn't leaving so soon. "Sure. I definitely need some help with it," Steve laughed softly at his own shortcomings, and then felt himself flush slightly when Tony came and sat down next to him on the bed.

Tony put his hand underneath Steve's that was holding the phone, turning the cellular device towards him so he could see it better. Steve forced the blush down, even as he memorized the feeling of Tony's hand against his, along with the constant brushing of Tony's thigh against Steve's leg.

Steve was so caught up in the moment that he almost missed the sound of soft humming coming from above him. He concentrated for a moment, and then realized it was the distinct sound of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" coming from the vent.

He was going to _kill_ Hawkeye.

"Okay, so let's start simple…" Tony began and then paused, stopping to glance at Steve. "Wait, do you hear something?"

Steve had an involuntary rush of panic, but he managed to keep his voice collected and seemingly confused when he answered Tony. "I don't hear anything… Who knows, maybe it's just the wind drafting through the window."

Tony looked unsure of the explanation, but shrugged anyway. "Maybe I'm just going crazy. Always knew it would happen."

Luckily, Clint had stopped humming before Tony could realize that he was in fact not losing his mind. Steve heard Barton's muffled snickers and he suddenly had an overwhelming desire to flip him off, but he knew that wouldn't be very Captain America like, so he refrained.

"Anyway. The first and foremost thing you must know when using a phone is how to turn it on." Tony's mouth quirked up into a half smile. "Are you able to do that much at least?" Tony asked, moving his hand away from Steve's to let Steve demonstrate. He wasn't sure if Tony was joking or not, but nonetheless obediently clicked the button to turn the phone on, bringing the screen to life. How tech savvy of him.

Tony laughed, and Steve felt like if that was the only sound he could hear for the rest of his life, he would be fine with it. It was perfect and contagious, and Steve felt a genuine smile forming on his face.

"Good boy," Tony said jokingly, patting Steve on the back. Steve half wondered if Clint was still up in the vents watching the scene below in amusement, but then realized he didn't really care if Clint was watching, because he was with Tony and that was all that mattered.

"Now I'll show you to use some of the apps on here," Tony said, taking the phone back from Steve. He flicked through the phone and then looked up at Steve in confusion.

"Rogers, where are all the apps I put on here?"

Steve felt dread pooling in his stomach, and he hoped Tony wouldn't be mad at him. "About that… Well I think I accidentally deleted them." At Tony's disbelieving face, he rushed to add, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's fine. I'm not even gonna ask how you managed to delete everything, because I'm fairly certain that's something only you would be capable of doing."

Steve was glad that he still heard humor and sarcasm in Tony's voice, portraying that he wasn't that mad about Steve's mishap.

"You sure are something else…" Tony muttered as he pressed various buttons on the phone, and Steve watched over his shoulder as the phone shifted from one program to another.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Steve responded, feeling less stiff and not as much of a nervous wreck like he was when Tony first came in.

Tony glanced up and smirked. "Take it as you'd like." Steve felt a slight heat on the back of his neck, but he ignored it and veered the conversation back to his phone.

"So, can the apps and stuff come back?" He asked.

"Of course. Right now I'm reinstalling a program that can restore everything that you originally had on your phone."

"Oh cool." Technology these days was pretty complicated, not to mention very confusing for someone who grew up in the 40's. But Steve had to admit, it could be very helpful at times.

After a few minutes, the phone dinged, apparently alerting them that everything was back in order. Tony then spent the next couple hours teaching Steve everything he needed to know about his phone, including how to use the camera and how to create a text message to send someone.

Tony even helped Steve create his own email, which was neat. He practiced texting back and forth with Tony for awhile, even though they were still in the same room.

Steve loved sending him funny texts to hear Tony's beautiful laugh, or asking for help just to see Tony's eyes light up when he saw that he was needed. It helped that Steve could listen to Tony talk about technology in that adorably smart way of his all day and never get bored.

It was the most fun Steve had in a long time, and when Tony finally got up to leave, saying he had work to do, Steve didn't want him to go. He wanted Tony to stay with him and sleep with arms wrapped around him and his body pressed against his own; he wanted to feel the taste of Tony's lips and tell him that he loved him.

But he knew he couldn't have any of that, so he let Tony go, hiding his sad smile as he watched him leave. Steve had made the mistake of putting Tony on a pedestal so high up, of caring about him so much, that it made it nearly impossible for Steve to reach him.

xxx

Steve lay in bed that night for a long time, but sleep would not come. Every time he closed his eyes, an image of Tony Stark floated into his mind and wouldn't go away. He thought of all of Tony's quirks and flaws, like his lame jokes that Steve found so endearing, or his disarming confidence that made him seem narcissistic to some, but made Steve idolize him.

Hundreds of moments with Tony replayed like a movie in his mind, from normal conversations to accidental brushing of their hands, to when they were fighting side by side or when they were arguing about insignificant matters.

They were memories that would be trivial to Tony, but meant the world to Steve. Steve, who was stuck in this endless one-sided love for a man who would, incidentally, never love him back.

xxx

 **Whoa that ended a little sadder than I intended… oh well! Lots of Steve ogling at an oblivious Tony to come! Please review and tell me what you think, and if you have any suggestions on awkward moments between the two of them, please share! Thanks!**


	2. Pancakes

**Hello, thanks to everybody who reviewed, favorited or followed! It really motivates me. Hope you like this chapter!**

xxx

Steve woke up the next morning to the aroma of freshly made pancakes. At least, that's what he thought the smell was. There was also a distinct smell of something burning…

He rubbed his tired eyes and sat up, wondering if he should be alarmed. It was odd that someone other than himself had tried to make breakfast, because it was kind of an unspoken rule that Steve was the designated cook of the Avengers.

Steve glanced at his clock and realized he had woken up a little later than he normally did, probably because of how long it took him to actually fall asleep. He rolled out of bed and changed into more suitable clothing before walking towards the kitchen.

When he got there, he saw Clint hurriedly dumping water on the flaming remains of what used to be pancakes, luckily stopping the small fire from spreading. Natasha and Bruce were sitting on bar stools watching him, looking uninterested and bored.

"Clint, what are you doing?" Steve asked warily, sighing.

Barton spun around to face him after quickly dumping the charred carcasses of the pancakes into the trash, slamming the lid shut a little too loudly.

"Mornin' Steve, I was just making breakfast." Clint said casually, as if he made breakfast all the time and it wasn't totally out of his character.

Steve raised an eyebrow and began walking towards Clint. "Here, let me help," he said, thinking the other man could use some assistance.

"No!" Clint quickly jumped in front of him, effectively cutting him off. "Er, I mean, I already made some that didn't burn and they will be great so you can just go sit your spangly self over at the kitchen table and wait for the food to be ready."

Clint's rushed words started to blend together, and Steve cautiously obliged, wondering what was actually going on. Natasha and Bruce joined him at the table, and they all sat in comfortable silence as they waited for the food to be served.

"We can't eat until everyone's here," Clint said, looking pointedly at Steve before smiling sweetly. "Maybe you can go wake up _Tony_ while Bruce gets Thor." He put an emphasis on Tony's name, and smirked at the tinge of pink rising onto Steve's face.

"No way. He can wake up when he wants to," Steve replied, keeping his voice steady and emotionless, not wanting to give Barton the satisfaction of watching him struggle.

Clint was about to respond when, speak of the devil, Tony himself groggily shuffled into the room. He looked completely out of it, and Steve assumed he had stayed up too late working again.

Clint grinned at the new arrival. "Well, hi Tony," he said perkily, barely able to withhold the sound of satisfaction from leaking into his voice.

Tony looked up at Clint grouchily and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so cheerful?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." For a spy and assassin, Clint was not very good at lying, and Steve did not miss the flicker of a mischievous grin on his face.

Steve didn't like the look of that. Tony, however, apparently decided that Clint's shenanigans were not worth his time, so he went and got some coffee before sitting down next to Steve.

Oh no. Bad idea. Even Black Widow had the slightest smirk on her face as Steve shifted in his seat, feeling awkward. Tony didn't notice how the atmosphere around Cap changed when he came over, but everyone else did.

Steve stared down at his hands on the table, aware of Tony mindlessly stirring his coffee beside him, probably looking adorable in his just awoken state.

Oops. Steve was trying to not think about Tony. He looked around the room, feigning interest in the occasional wall or the way the ceiling fan was spinning. He looked outside and watched birds hopping around and trees swaying in the wind, appreciating that at least through all of the 70 years he had been in the ice, nature was still nature.

He absently followed a trail of sunlight as it streamed in through the window, where it happened to land right on Tony, putting highlights in his dark hair and casting shadows on his jaw line. Tony looked more alert now with his coffee, and Steve stared at a small drop that was on the corner of his mouth, suddenly having an overwhelming urge to—

Oh. Dang it, Rogers.

Steve quickly looked away from the genius, and noticed that Bruce had finally arrived with Thor. By the looks of it, Thor hadn't come very enthusiastically, usually being one who liked to sleep in later.

"Now that everyone's here, we can finally have breakfast." Clint said, sounding a little more eager than the situation called for. Thor perked up at the mention of food, and came to the table, this time dragging Bruce along instead of the other way around.

Clint had a plate in his hands as he walked over to where the rest of the Avengers were sitting, resting his hand on top of the domed lid ominously. He waited until he had everyone's attention before smiling directly as Steve, and Cap swore he saw a glint in his eyes.

"Voila!" Clint announced as he lifted the lid to reveal a plate of steaming, fresh… _heart shaped_ pancakes.

Steve had to resist the urge to punch him right in his very smug face.

The rest of the Avengers snickered, and Thor laughed loudly before clasping Steve firmly on the shoulder. Steve quickly shoved his hand off before Tony could notice.

Tony looked at Clint and the pancakes incredulously, and even more so when Clint started passing out the pancakes around the table.

Barton was purposely giving the most obvious and largest heart shaped ones to Steve and Tony, while some of the more deformed lumps went to the rest of the Avengers.

Tony poked at his stack of pancakes suspiciously. "Why are they heart shaped? Legolas, do you have something to tell us?" He asked, smirking at Clint.

Clint laughed and started to reply, "Well since you're asking…" Steve felt his eyes widen in distress, no way, they promised not to tell, they promised they promised they promised they—

"There is absolutely _no reason at all_ that I decided to make heart shaped pancakes this morning." Tony gave Clint an annoyed and obvious disbelieving look, but Clint just snickered and turned back to his food to eat.

Steve felt a moment of relief before the irritated tension came back, and he started to cut his pancakes into dozens of tiny pieces, until they no longer resembled hearts at all.

Tony was still looking at his own pancakes skeptically. "The better question, is it safe to eat? You're an assassin, not a cook. Jarvis, what is the percentage probability that these pancakes are lethal?"

"There is a 30% chance that these pancakes could kill you, based on past records of Mr. Barton, sir."

Bruce's fork clattered onto his plate. "30%?" he said in alarm, looking at Clint untrustingly.

"Hey, those are only the times I _deliberately_ had to poison someone by my cooking. No worries, I'm not actually that bad."

Regardless of Clint's statement, Tony still didn't look inclined to eat his pancakes. "Even if these monstrosities don't kill me, I doubt they'll taste good. And I'm sensing something suspicious going on here, and I don't like it."

Steve felt his heart beat a little faster, nervous that Tony was getting close to guessing, or that someone might tell him.

Clint pretended to look offended for a moment, until his expression transformed into a smirk. "I'm not up to anything, how could you say that?" he said in mock hurt. "I think you're just making excuses because you only like _Steve's_ cooking."

Steve felt uncomfortable and unwillingly anxious for Tony's response, squeezing on his fork so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

"Steve isn't capable of plotting something against me, which is why I'm perfectly fine eating whatever he makes," Tony retorted, not noticing the rising blush on Steve's face or the restrained smiles of the rest of the Avengers. "Jarvis, what is the probability that Steve's cooking would kill me?"

"0%, sir, based on theoretical probability that he has never killed anyone in the past by his cooking."

Tony looked triumphant, and dumped his heart shaped pancakes on Clint's plate. "Here, you have them. I'll go write a eulogy for your funeral."

With that, Tony whisked out of the room, probably to go hole away in the lab and work on a project all day. Steve stood up as well, wishing he knew what to say in response to his fellow teammates' teasing looks in his direction.

Instead he walked out of the room, leaving the torn hearts of his breakfast sitting on the table and trying to ignore the bitter irony of it all.

xxx

For Steve, avoiding the other Avengers for the rest of the day was easy. He went to the gym and then stayed in his room, eating at irregular times as to not run into anyone in the kitchen.

On the other hand, keeping a certain billionaire out of his mind proved to be nearly impossible. He should've known sketching was a bad idea, and when his drawing turned out to be yet another one of Tony, he realized he was really craving some company from the genius.

It was that evening and he was bored, finally unable to help himself as he rose from his desk and out the door of his room. He snuck through the hallways, luckily avoiding encounters with the other Avengers, and made his way to Tony's workshop.

When he arrived, he lifted his hand and knocked tentatively on the door. There was no reply, and Steve knew that the loud music he heard from the inside was probably drowning him out.

He gingerly opened the door, walking in and taking a quick survey of the room while looking for Tony. The workshop was especially cluttered today, like it had been awhile since Tony had taken the time to clean up the numerous projects that littered the tables and floor.

"Tony?" Steve called out, reaching to turn the stereo down a bit so Tony could hear him better.

He heard a small sound and looked to the right to see Tony coming out from behind one of the Ironman suits, a wrench in his hand. He looked at Steve as he wiped his hands on his shirt, lifting one arm to mop at the sweat on his forehead.

"What's up, Cap?" Tony's tone was friendly enough, but Steve knew him well enough to sense the tiredness in his voice.

" I just came in to check on you. I noticed you didn't come down for lunch or dinner so… I just, um…" Steve felt his mind go blank on what to say, because the real reason he had come down was just so he could be around Tony, to watch him work or talk to him.

" I'm fine, Steve. You know, one of these days you're going to wake up with gray hair from worrying about everyone so much."

 _Not everyone. Just you._ Steve's mind intrusively supplied.

"Well, I was a little bored too. Came down here to see if anything interesting was going on." Steve quickly added, which was mostly true, he supposed.

Tony shrugged. "Nothin' that entertaining. Just making some improvements to my suit, among other things."

"What are you adding?" Steve asked, needing a way to keep the conversation going. He walked closer to Tony and inspected the Ironman suit. There weren't any extremely noticeable differences, at least from what he could tell.

"Come here and see." Tony responded, grabbing Steve's wrist and pulling the blonde man so he was standing right beside him, shoulders almost touching. He let go of Cap, and then pointed to a new tiny gun that had been installed on one of the knuckles of the suit.

"I was thinking," Tony began, "that if I was faced against someone with metal armor like me or a robot of some sort, my normal blasters won't do much damage to them. So I made a specialized laser that can burn through any metal, even my suit or your precious shield if it stayed on it long enough."

Steve saw satisfaction in Tony's eyes as the genius sifted through notes he had written and double checked every aspect of the laser; he looked pleased with himself when all of the data matched up.

It wasn't the fake self assuredness and cockiness he wore around the press, but true, genuine pride at what he had made.

"That's great, Tony. Very cool." Steve said sincerely, noticing the small flecks of gold in Tony's brown irises for the first time. He didn't know how Tony could be so _smart,_ and the inventions he made would never cease to impress Steve.

"Also, I stabilized some other weak points," Tony said, turning to face Steve and snapping him out of his reverie. "If you were the suit, these two places used to be vulnerable for some reason," he placed both his hands right above Steve's hips, looking Cap in the eye, not realizing how the intimate contact made Steve feel.

"I had to fix it so it kept the same mobility, but it is now ten times—

"Tony? The team wants you downstairs. Oh and by the way, have you seen—" Bruce's interruption was suddenly cut off, as he saw the compromising position Steve and Tony were in.

Faster than you could say "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist", Steve had jumped away from Tony's touch and was standing to the side like a teenage boy who's mom caught him making out with his girlfriend.

Tony didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed, or maybe he didn't realize any reason he should. He was just demonstrating to a friend about his suit, after all.

"Um, well, uh there's, uh, Movie Night tonight if you guys, uh, want to join us," Bruce stammered. "Unless you're busy! Then, um, don't worry about it." He quickly added, making Steve turn red at what Bruce was probably thinking.

"I'm up for Movie Night." Tony said, unaware of the sexual tension in the air. "Come on, Capsicle, I can tell you about my suit later."

Steve followed Tony to the door, feeling his blush finally receding. He didn't look at Bruce though, feeling kind of violated for some reason. He kept feeling the ghost of Tony's hands on him, and he wished Bruce hadn't shown up to take that away from him.

Here he was, Captain freaking America, turning into a pile of love struck mush because of the unknowing touch of Tony Stark.

Some national icon he was.

xxx

 **I hope you guys are having as much fun reading this story as I am writing it! Please review, it keeps me going. And if you have any suggestions to make Steve feel awkward, please feel free to let me know.**

 **Thanks!**


	3. Movie Night Cuddles

**Here's chapter 3! I hope you like it! Thanks to Purple Pizza for great ideas, along with the amazing motivation I get from anyone who reviews.**

xxx

Steve trailed behind Tony and Bruce on the way to the media room, not feeling very excited for the Avengers' weekly Movie Night.

Most of the time he appreciated catching up on the modern day blockbusters, but right now, all he really wanted to do was go to his room and sleep, preferably with Tony.

Steve shook his head to himself, and tried to keep those thoughts out of his mind. Constantly daydreaming about Tony Stark wasn't going to do him any good, and he knew it, yet he couldn't seem to get control of his overly active imagination. Every time he tried to think of something else, Tony's deep brown eyes would rise to the surface of his mind, or he would hear the genius's entrancing voice echoing in his ears.

Steve was still lost in thought when the three of them walked into the large room that was used specifically for watching movies as a team. It was adorned with a huge plasma flat screen TV, along with two couches that fit three people each; one already occupied by Clint, Natasha and Thor.

Bruce and Stark had already settled onto the available sofa, so Steve made his way towards them and sat down on the last empty seat, next to Tony. Luckily, Clint and Natasha were too busy arguing about something to give him their irritating smirks, and Thor was reading the back of a DVD case so he couldn't send any encouraging or obvious looks Steve's way.

"So, have we decided what we're watching?" Tony asked, causing Clint and Natasha to finally stop talking; Steve noticed Barton looked rather triumphant.

"It was Clint's turn to choose tonight, and he chose Mean Girls." Natasha said, making a face in disapproval of the choice of movie. Steve guessed that the selection was probably what the two were bickering about.

"Hey, it's a classic!" Clint said defensively, elbowing Natasha in the side. She smacked him on the arm and rolled her eyes, muttering something about wasting time and killing her brain cells by watching this god forsaken movie.

Tony chuckled and agreed to watch, but Steve could see the fatigue settling in his chocolate colored eyes. Bruce shrugged, looking indifferent, while Steve was just confused about it all, as usual. It didn't seem like that nice of a movie. Why did the girls have to be mean?

While Steve was questioning the ethics of the 21st century, Clint had gotten up and popped the disk into the specialized Stark DVD player that apparently made all movies high definition with extremely clear audio. Steve didn't understand that either, surprise surprise.

Clint then began to pass out bowls of popcorn and various drinks to the Avengers, wisely avoiding all alcoholic beverages. After he finished, he sat down and pressed play on the TV remote, causing the movie to begin. Steve watched halfheartedly, but found his attention often straying to that of the man beside him.

Tony had a bowl of popcorn in his lap, and he offered some to Cap who graciously declined. Steve subtly watched Tony as he shared the food with Bruce, popping a handful of the buttery and rather burnt popcorn into his mouth. He crinkled his nose in a super cute way at the taste, though Steve would have vehemently denied thinking it if he was asked.

Tony handed the bowl to Bruce, obviously not appreciating Clint's culinary skills for the second time that day. Steve suddenly wondered if Tony had seen the movie before, because he didn't seem interested and kept looking around the room instead.

Never once did Tony look over and see Steve staring at him, though. He didn't ever turn his head and look at what was right beside him, and Steve wasn't sure whether to be thankful or disappointed.

Steve tried to watch the movie, he really did. But there were so many questions he had regarding it, and he wondered if it was truly a "classic" like Clint had said. Back in the 40's, classics usually had good messages, and so far in this movie, the girls' behavior was honestly just making Steve uncomfortable.

The movie was probably about a third of the way through when, out of the blue, Steve felt Tony nonchalantly lay his head on his shoulder. It took everything in him not to stiffen up and make the entire situation awkward, as he was prone to doing.

He sat still and acted relaxed, glad that none of the other Avengers had noticed yet. Steve glanced down at the genius, grateful for the dark to hide his blushing face, and noticed that Tony's eyes were closed. He felt a warmness spreading throughout his chest at the thought of Tony Stark, rumored a heartless playboy, falling asleep on the shoulder of Captain America.

Sadly, that was when Clint unsuspectingly looked over at them, and let out a surprised snicker at Steve's situation. He nudged Thor and Natasha to show them, which caused Bruce to notice as well. Now everyone was looking at Tony with his head on Steve's shoulder, his eyes peacefully shut while Steve took all of the impact from his teammates' stares.

Natasha suddenly whispered something to Clint, and even in the limited light, Steve could see the evil grin forming on his face as he nodded and agreed to her plan. They turned back and pretended to continue watching the movie, but Steve noticed Clint kept periodically looking back at him and Tony.

A few minutes later, Steve felt that Tony had definitely fallen asleep; his head dipped a bit on Steve's shoulder and his breathing was steady and slow. Steve looked down at him and suddenly wanted to press his lips to Tony's hair, but stopped himself before he could do something so obvious and stupid.

Steve looked back up to see if he could figure out what part of the movie they were at when he noticed the three Avengers on the other couch were standing up, as if to leave. Steve looked confusedly at the TV, confirming that the movie wasn't over yet, and then sent a questioning look at Natasha.

"We thought you might want some alone time." She said, her voice barely audible as she nodded her head towards the sleeping Tony, her mouth forming into a smirk. Steve blushed and wanted to argue, especially when Bruce finally got the memo and stood up as well.

However, Steve was too worried about waking Tony up and ruining the moment to make a sound, even when Clint pulled out his phone to snap a picture for blackmail purposes. Steve glared at Barton as the archer flashed him a lopsided smirk, putting his phone back in his pocket and walking out of the room, the rest of the Avengers following close behind.

Now that Steve and Tony were alone, Steve became more aware of everything around him. The only sound was the soft noise emitting from the television and the quiet inhale and exhale of air from Tony, along with Steve's own sporadic heartbeat racing. The dimness of the room made Steve want to do something risky in the shadow of the night, and he could smell the faint scent of shampoo mixed with sweat in Tony's hair.

Steve suddenly looked down at Tony when he felt the man loosely grab his shirt in his sleep, holding onto Steve as if he didn't want him to leave.

In a moment of courage and absolute positivity that the other Avengers were gone, (though Steve wouldn't put it past them to plant a camera in the room), he wrapped his arm around Tony's waist, pulling him closer.

Tony murmured something in his sleep but didn't wake, and his form relaxed against Steve's body. Cap smiled slightly, but suddenly felt extremely tired, his eyes drooping and heartbeat slowing. With his arm still around Tony, he moved the genius from a slouched sitting position to laying him down on his side, his back pressed against the back of the couch. Steve then lay down as well, his eyes already closing as he wrapped his other arm around Tony, holding the man tightly against his chest.

Steve was now completely turned away from the TV, and he was happier than he had ever been before, loving the feeling of having Tony in his arms. Tony's face was pressed into Steve's neck, his breath tickling his skin, and he had an arm loosely wrapped around Steve's waist.

Steve wasn't thinking about what Tony would be thinking if he woke up in Steve's embrace, or if the other Avengers found out. All he was thinking about was the perfect moment he was in, and that he wasn't going to let anything ruin it for him.

xxx

Steve Rogers woke up the next morning to the soft tinkling of laughter and the distinct smell of cinnamon scented shampoo. He wearily opened his eyes, and then involuntarily jerked backwards when he saw Tony Stark in his arms, his head buried in Steve's chest.

His sudden movement woke Tony up, and he looked up at Steve, bewildered at their current position. Steve felt heat rising to his face as the events of the previous night came rushing back to him, and he immediately loosened his hold on Tony.

Once Tony got over his momentary shock, he quickly moved his arm away from where it was hooked around Steve's waist, and began untangling his legs from Steve, trying to sit up. Steve was thoroughly discomfited, and it didn't help that they had an audience.

"I feel like we're interrupting something here…" Clint's voice sounded from the doorway, and Steve could hear the other Avengers laughing, making him feel slightly nauseated in embarrassment.

Steve moved his arms away from Tony and finally was able to sit up, glaring at the Avengers who were now crowded around them. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as Tony hastily moved away from him, the space between them expanding as Steve's heart deflated.

Nobody noticed Steve's inner sadness, but at least he was distracted from his thoughts when Clint pulled his phone out and waggled it at Tony, smirking.

"If I thought the pictures I got from last night were good, the ones from this morning are priceless." Tony swatted at Clint's phone in an annoyed manner, his initial confusion turning into irritation.

"I didn't know you were into that sort of thing, Birdbrain." Tony said, using sarcasm as a defense because he probably had no idea what else to say about the situation.

It was all Steve's fault, and Tony was just unknowingly roped in while he was asleep.

"It never hurts to have some blackmail." Barton responded; probably glad to have some dirt on Tony in revenge for the numerous pranks the genius had played on him in the past.

"I can easily hack into your phone, you know. Don't get too confident in yourself." Tony said, his usual cocky self returning as he stood up and moved farther away from Steve. It was such a typical thing for Tony to do, to pretend nothing even happened and move on with daily life.

Steve felt a mixture of relief and discontent that Tony wasn't going to make a big deal about it. As much as he wanted everybody to forget about what happened, Steve kind of wished Tony had felt something while being in his arms. Something like the love and desire Steve had felt, preferably.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude, where do you think you're going? You have some explaining to do. What happened here?" Clint grabbed Tony's arm before he could leave, and then gestured at Steve and the couch, raising his eyebrows.

"Nothing happened." Steve said bluntly, standing up and trying not squirm under the relentless stares of his teammates.

"I don't even know," Tony added, looking like he would rather leave than have to talk about the situation, "It was an accident, I guess."

Clint snorted at this, sending Steve an amused look at Tony's ignorance about Steve's feelings. Steve felt a blush spreading across his cheeks, so he tightened his jaw and looked away.

"Oh, I bet it was an _accident_. It's okay, Stark, go ahead and tell us how you truly feel about Mr. America over there." Clint said, smirking so widely it looked like it might split his face.

Tony didn't even look flustered, and he gave Clint a long, level, are-you-freaking-kidding-me look that had been mastered a long time ago.

Steve, on the other hand, was as taut as a bowstring and felt like Clint was toeing a very clear line that he should not cross.

"How I truly feel is that it was your fault for picking such a boring movie that made us both fall asleep."

"Hey it wasn't—" Clint started to protest, but then Tony had already moved past him and out the door.

Since he was gone, the rest of the Avengers whirled on Steve, looking at him with questions in their eyes and smirks tugging at their lips.

"Friend Steve, we are sorry for interrupting your time with Friend Tony." Thor apologized, causing Steve to blush and shake his head in denial.

"We fell asleep, that's all."Steve said, his voice steady but kind of strained.

"No kissing or any other naughty behavior?" Clint said, feigning disappointment. Steve rolled his eyes and was ready for a subject change.

"How about we forget about this and go downstairs and eat?"

"Food sounds good to me." Bruce put in, easy-going as usual (except when he was Hulk, of course) and fine with being the peacekeeper.

"Fine, breakfast it is." Clint submitted to Steve's request, but an unholy smirk was still on his face. "But we're not just going to _forget_ about what happened here."

Steve felt the tips of his ears turning red, and he knew he was in for a lot of teasing just because he accidentally on purpose cuddled Tony Stark.

xxx

The next few days were filled with little tokens from Clint and the Avengers to remind Steve and Tony that they had not, and would not, forget what happened.

Once at lunch, there were only five chairs instead of six, with Clint claiming that he thought Tony could just sit in Steve's lap since that seemed to be a hobby of his. Tony was not amused, and had pushed Clint out of his chair so he would have to get another for himself.

Then later, Clint replaced all of Tony's shirts with Captain America t-shirts, and when Tony came to confront him about it, he said that Tony really took borrowing his boyfriend's clothes to a whole new level. Steve was fairly positive that was when Tony started inventing a specialized weapon to use on Clint.

Lastly, it was late at night when Tony went to his room to find his bed filled with gross green slime, with a small note on his pillow that read, "Steve's bed is always available for you to use" along with one of Clint's arrows thrust through a plush heart.

Good thing Steve still thinks Tony is adorable even when he's incredibly annoyed.

xxx

 **There you go! I guess you could say Steve's "almost too gay to function", haha. Anyway, I hoped you liked it! Please, please, please review!**

 **Thanks!**


	4. Avoiding Love

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but here's chapter 4! The Avengers are actually going to get some action in this one.**

xxx

Steve finished pulling his gloves on and steeled his mind for the upcoming battle.

For the first time in forever, the Avengers had an actual distress call that they had to respond to. Apparently, there was a man who went by the name "Roboto" who was wreaking destruction in downtown New York, and it had become way too much for local police to handle. The deranged man had created hundreds of specially designed malevolent robots, and buildings and civilians alike were being terrorized.

Steve was secretly grateful for a distraction from the constant pestering from his teammates, even though he knew it was wrong to feel that way. It had been several weeks since the Movie Night incident, and luckily, it had mostly blown over. Tony and Steve never once mentioned it to each other because it was still a rather awkward topic, and even Clint had moved on from it. However, periodic teasing was still a given in the Avengers Tower, especially whenever Tony and Steve happened to be in a room alone together.

Grabbing his shield, Steve cleared his mind and focused only on the task ahead of him, walking with a purposeful stride into the room where a few of the other Avengers were assembled. Natasha and Clint were there wearing tight black clothing, armed with their personal weapons of choice. Bruce was standing there as himself, because he hadn't got a Code Green claiming that Hulk was needed. He seemed perfectly happy to sit this one out.

"Where's Thor?" Steve asked, getting straight to business.

Natasha and Clint glanced at each other uncertainly before Romanoff answered, "Not sure exactly, but I believe he's waiting for his cape get out of the dryer."

Steve fought to not roll his eyes, and nodded as if this was perfectly acceptable and always a pre-battle ritual.

"And Tony?"

"He's gearing up. Said he had to work on a few quick improvements on his suit and that he'd be down here in a couple minutes." Clint answered easily. No wisecracks, no smirks. It was imperative to be focused before a battle, even if the threat seemed small.

"Alright. Hopefully they will be here soon. Every minute we waste, innocent people are getting hurt." Steve's voice was clipped and serious, in a no-nonsense tone.

As if on cue, Tony and Thor walked in, both fully uniformed. Tony had his faceplate flipped up, and Thor was casually twirling Mjolnir in his hand, his cape fully dry.

"Are we ready to go, Cap?" Tony asked.

"We were just waiting for you. Let's go." Steve responded, finishing the transformation from Steve Rogers into Captain America.

Steve Rogers was the one in love with Tony Stark, not Captain America, he told himself. There wasn't time for schoolyard crushes on a battlefield, and he tried to lock Tony away in the shadowy corners of his mind, in order to focus on more important matters.

Cap led the team outside where they could see exactly what was happening. The robots were everywhere and there seemed to be an endless number of them. They sent out huge beams of energy that melted trees and blasted huge holes in buildings, as well as trampling anything unfortunate enough to be in their path.

Steve analyzed and strategized the area around them in seconds and soon was taking charge of his team. "Okay, Clint, there's an ideal sniper position on top of that rooftop there, and I want you taking down anything the rest of us miss. Thor and Natasha, you two will be on the ground in the center, taking them out one by one. Tony—"

Steve cut himself off when he realized Tony was already in the sky, chasing down stray robots that got too far outside the secured perimeter. He tried to ignore the twinge of fear in his heart that Tony would get hurt with his reckless behavior, and wanted to reprimand Stark for not listening to orders. Steve knew that he got onto Tony a lot and that it bugged Stark to no end, but it was because Steve really cared about Tony's well-being and would hate to see him hurt.

Steve had to channel his Captain America persona to keep himself on track, telling himself that Tony could take care of himself. He stubbornly continued giving out orders, trying to sort things out in his overwhelmed mind.

"I'll go after Roboto and keep him in my sights until I can take him down, and Bruce, you stay here, I think we can handle this without an appearance from the Other Guy."

Bruce smiled, relieved, while the rest of the team went to their assigned positions, ready to kick some Robo-butt. Steve ran straight into the battle, swiftly dodging attacks from the robots and deflecting energy blasts with his shield, searing the robots with their own power. He kept his eye on Roboto, and steadily went towards him as he fought through the miniature army of robots.

The battle continued on fairly easily and the Avengers remained organized as they destroyed the robots efficiently and minimized collateral damage to nearby citizens. Steve continuously checked up on his teammates, trying to be aware of all the dangers all around at once, as well as planning how he was going to take Roboto out. He was the one behind all the robots, and was controlling them through a device connected to his arm. It was Steve's job to take him out of commission, which would effectively shut down all of the robots.

Steve couldn't help but notice that he was looking over in Tony's direction far more than anyone else's, and that the worrying, nagging feeling that Tony would get hurt was growing as the battle continued. After cleanly decapitating a robot using his shield, Steve looked back over at Iron Man for the hundredth time; this time to see him being swarmed by the robots, which apparently could fly.

Without thinking twice, Steve felt his protective instincts that were naturally geared towards the brown haired genius kick in, and he took off running to help out. He hopped up onto an abandoned car and threw his shield as a boomerang, taking out a bunch of the robots in the process.

He was going to throw his shield again to ensure Tony's safety when a laser suddenly sliced all the robots surrounding Tony in half. Steve watched as their metal, sparking carcasses rained down from the sky, and he suddenly felt foolish, realizing that Tony had never needed his help to fend off the robots.

"Cap? What are you doing? You're way out of your area." Tony's voice came on over the comms unit, sounding perplexed and slightly chiding.

Steve looked around quickly and realized he had let Roboto get away. He felt panic wash over him, and his eyes darted desperately across the smoking destruction, searching for the man he was supposed to be responsible for. After several long, tense seconds, Steve finally saw Roboto sneak out from behind a chimney and onto the roof Clint was on.

Only now Roboto was armed with a huge metal gun that resembled a bazooka, and he was creeping up behind Clint who hadn't noticed him yet. Steve's eyes widened as he watched Roboto lift the huge weapon and take aim…

"Clint! Watch out!" Steve yelled through the comms unit in a last desperate attempt of a warning, but it was too late. The psychotic man had already shot his oversized gun, hitting Clint squarely in the back. Clint fell to the ground and was perilously lying halfway off the roof, spasms shaking his body.

Steve took off running and climbed up the fire escape to the roof faster than humanly possible. He sprinted a few yards and then pounced on Roboto from behind, knocking the still smoking gun out of his hands with a well aimed punch. In a matter of seconds, the man was lying on the ground unconscious, and Steve then pressed the button on the remote to deactivate all the robots.

Steve could hardly breathe as he pulled Clint away from the edge of the roof, before the archer completely toppled off and smashed into the ground several stories below. He felt Clint's twitching subside, his body going still and breathing quiet. The sudden and complete quiescence was terrifying.

The threat had been obliterated, but there was no feeling of victory in the air. The rest of the Avengers had now made it onto the roof and circled around Clint, jaws clenched tight and clinging to their hopes that he would be alright.

Steve couldn't say anything. He could feel the weight of the air around him, suffocating him, because what happened to Clint was all his fault. Roboto was his job to take care of, and he got distracted by Tony freaking Stark and let Clint get hurt.

Bruce came over to where Clint was lying and Steve carefully moved out of the way, crossing his arms and standing rigidly by himself on the outskirts of the group. Bruce placed two fingers to Clint's wrist to check his pulse, and then did some visual checks to discern if there were any other harmful injuries.

"He appears to have lost consciousness; Tony can you fly him over to the hospital right now? It'll be the fastest way to get him there."

"Sure thing." Tony replied without hesitation, walking over to Clint and scooping him into his arms before taking off. Steve felt queasy looking at how limp and pale Clint had looked as they had lifted off the ground, and he already felt guilt compiling at the bottom of his stomach.

Natasha had an impassive expression on her face, but her eyes were cold and lips pressed tightly together as she dialed the number to call Director Fury. Steve could tell she was worried for Clint, just like they all were.

Bruce took the responsibility to bag up the charred gun so that he and Tony could run tests on it in the lab to figure out exactly what Clint had been hit with. Thor looked solemn and sad, and shook his head as if he was wondering how this could've happened.

Steve felt ashamed and guilt ridden, blaming himself for what happened to Clint and feeling like everyone else was too. Captain America had let the team down because Steve Roger's feelings for Tony Stark got in the way.

That could not happen again.

xxx

After 3 days of being in constant worry, the Avengers received the news that Clint was going to be okay. Steve felt immensely relieved, because nervousness had been eating him up inside and he had been spending several hours inside Clint's hospital room each day. At first Clint was completely unresponsive to anything the doctors tried, and that terrified Steve and the rest of the Avengers. Tony and Bruce had hardly left the lab at all since they had gotten back, determined to figure the gun's power out and hopefully find a way to cure Clint's ailment.

Finally, after Tony and Bruce had broken down the gun's components to the last atom, the duo solved the case. They quickly alerted the doctors who were working with Clint what the antidote was, and stood back and watched their good work as Clint was revived.

However, even after Clint was up and walking around again, Steve still felt guilty. Clint never should've been hit in the first place, and Steve knew in order to protect his teammates from another careless mistake, something was going to have to give.

That was when Steve decided that he was going to have nothing to do with Tony Stark, and began avoiding him so that his feelings for him would dissipate.

It wasn't that hard, considering Tony practically lived in his lab or workshop most of the time, but it hurt all the same. Steve loved being around Tony, just to hear his sarcastic voice or feel his presence nearby.

But it was for the best, and Steve was just going to have to live with it.

"Hello everyone! In honor of Clint returning to the land of the living, we are going to have a team dinner tonight, my treat." Steve felt his stomach drop when he heard the unmistakable sound of Tony's voice come from behind him. Turning around, Steve faced the ever charming Tony who had a wry smile on his face, as well as Clint who was walking with only a slight limp beside him.

The other Avengers around Steve grinned or voiced their approval of the idea, but Steve still felt tense and uneasy. Did Tony remember that it had been Steve's fault that Clint got hurt, after he was stupidly helping Tony for no reason? Steve looked down at the floor to avoid eye contact with any of the others so they wouldn't notice his unsettling inner thoughts.

The restaurant Tony chose was called _Paradiso in Terra_ , which was a very expensive Italian restaurant whose owners knew him well, as he went there often. Tony ordered everyone to change into some decent clothing, and once all the Avengers were ready they met back in the living room.

"I'm driving and so is Bruce, so split up and we can meet there." Tony stated. Clint went with Tony and got in the passenger seat, while the other three went with Bruce.

"Are you coming with us?" Clint asked Steve when he noticed the latter hadn't moved to either car.

"No, I think I'll take my bike." Steve responded distantly.

"Are you sure? There's plenty of room." Tony called over his shoulder to Steve.

"I'm sure." Steve said shortly, and then turned and walked back to where his motorcycle was waiting for him.

"Okay, see you there." Tony said, sounding dismissive of Steve's brusque attitude.

Steve swung onto his bike, feeling melancholy. Ignoring and avoiding Tony was going to be difficult. Every time Steve saw his face or heard his voice, a part of him wanted to reach out and touch him, to embrace him. Now he couldn't.

An image of Clint's lifeless body floated to the surface of his mind, and Steve knew that he didn't have time for distractions, which was all Tony was to him. He could live without ever talking to him unless he had to for missions, or ignoring him until this stupid crush he had on him faded away. It couldn't be that hard.

Right?

xxx

 **Aww poor Steve feels guilty and doesn't want to be around Tony anymore. I guess we'll see how long that will last…**

 **Anyways, please review! It feeds my writing! If you have any ideas, constructive criticism or comments, please leave a review.**

 **Thanks!**


	5. Mario Kart and Homophobia?

**Omg everyone, I am terribly sorry for the long wait. But you know school and finals and other things happened so I was pretty busy. Hope you enjoy!**

Dinner that night was unbearably painful. As the night went on, it just got worse for Steve. Tony would joke and laugh with the other Avengers while Steve sat somberly to the side, looking down at his plate of food without an appetite.

He felt Bruce giving him concerned looks, and Natasha was carefully scrutinizing him. He ignored them and kept his head down, continuing to stare intently at his food as he sullenly moved it around on his plate. Finally, it was Thor who decided to speak up.

"What is troubling you Friend Steve? You seem terribly unhappy." Thor asked in that genuine and open way of his, getting right to the point and not wondering if Steve wanted to talk about it or not.

Steve made sure to keep his face expressionless as he looked up from his plate of food, shrugging lackadaisically. "I'm fine. I'm just… not hungry." Steve answered, and then immediately wished he had thought of something more believable because now all of the Avengers were looking at him with dubious expressions. His friends knew that because of the serum, Steve's metabolism was extremely fast and he was hungry nearly all the time.

"I mean, I'm not really feeling that great right now…" Steve added, trying to amend what he previously said. "I have a headache and—"He stopped his phony excuses mid sentence when Natasha abruptly cut him off.

"Seriously Steve, what's going on with you? You've been moping around ever since Clint got hurt, don't think I wouldn't notice."

"It's nothing, really." Steve said, trying to ignore Natasha's probing eyes that seemed to be gathering data and observations about him. Suddenly he felt a hint of claustrophobia, and the room suddenly seemed too small a space to hold the heavy weight of his teammates' analytical stares. He stood up to leave and grabbed his jacket, murmuring something about seeing them later back at the tower.

The room went silent as Steve whisked out, and the last thing he heard was a sarcastic comment from Tony about Steve being a stick in the mud and no fun at team gatherings.

It began to rain as Steve walked through the parking lot to his motorcycle, and he miserably lifted his jacket over his head to shield himself from the droplets. He had a million thoughts swirling around in his mind, and almost all of them had something to do with Tony or a feeling of guilt. He didn't need Tony. It was the best for the team and for Steve to just forget about the crush he had on Tony and move on. _He didn't need Tony Stark._

He repeated this little mantra over and over again in his mind until he thought he had convinced himself. What he had forgotten was that convincing the mind was one thing, but convincing the heart was another matter entirely.

xxx

The next day Steve had fully planned on getting up early and going for a morning run without any distractions. However, a certain teammate wasn't having any of that.

"Is your headache gone? Are you feeling better now?" Natasha was leaning against the counter looking shrewdly at him, sounding sardonic and not at all actually concerned.

It took everything in Steve not to blanch and stutter a lame response. He took a moment to compose himself of the unexpected appearance of Natasha at this ungodly time in the morning, and then evenly replied.

"Yes, why I do feel quite better now. I took some medicine last night, and I think that helped."

"Mmm." Natasha responded, looking at him with suspicion. She looked like she was going to add some sort of interrogation tactic to get more information out of him, but then settled for reminding him that he could always talk to them about anything he had on his mind. Steve was about retort that everything was fine and nothing was bothering him, but Natasha had already brushed past him and out of the kitchen.

"Enjoy your run," she said curtly before turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

Steve mused over her words as he walked out of the tower and began jogging towards Central Park. He wondered if maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to confess how he was feeling to someone and get some of the guilt off his chest. He imagined how the conversation would go, but knew he wouldn't be able to follow through because it sounded so pathetic, even in his own mind.

Captain America getting distracted in a battle because of wanting to protect his crush, who, incidentally, was completely and utterly able to take care of himself. It was downright embarrassing for Steve. He was literally created to be the perfect soldier, and that was the reason he was on the Avengers in the first place. How could he be a perfect soldier or the leader of Earth's Mightiest Heroes if he couldn't even stay focused during a simple battle?

Steve knew that his subconscious was partly to blame on his instinct to help Tony, more than just his plain infatuation for the man. Steve thought that if he could save Tony's life then maybe Tony would actually appreciate him. He knew it was stupid, but he couldn't seem to let go of that small strand of hope. Steve hated how vulnerable and servile Tony made him. This is why Steve had made it his goal to avoid Tony and let this infatuation for the man pass. Steve thought himself to be a pretty dedicated guy, and when he made a goal, he stuck with it.

xxx

When Steve returned to the tower, he was welcomed by the sight of Tony, Thor, and Clint playing Mario Kart, with Bruce and Natasha quietly watching. Clint and Tony seemed to be neck and neck for first and second, while Thor was attempting to figure out the buttons and seemed to be in last place.

"You freaking idiot, you hit me with a green shell! How come my green shells never go where I want them to?" Clint exclaimed, shoving Tony with one arm while his eyes remained fixed on the screen.

Tony grinned as he crossed the finish line in first place. "Darling, it's all about aim and finesse, which I know aren't your strong suits."

The archer glared at him as he finished second, letting out an irritated retort, "Yeah? Well let me get my bow and arrow and see if I can't hit a _well-aimed_ shot to your—"

"Hey Steve, welcome back," Bruce interrupted quickly before Clint could finish his sentence. The three players whirled around to look at him, and the previous tension seemed to ease.

"Hey Gramps, you wanna play?" Tony asked jovially, his warm brown eyes mesmerizing Steve and causing butterflies in his stomach.

"Uh— no. No thanks, I'm good." Steve forced out, trying to stop his stomach from doing loop-de-loops.

"Oh come on, at least play one round. The whole team is here!" Clint added coaxingly, wiggling the extra controller.

Seeing no other option, Steve grudgingly agreed. "Fine, I guess. I'm kind of sweaty from my run though…" he tried one last excuse for means of escape, but his teammates weren't having any of that.

"As if we haven't been subjected to your sweat before, for God's sake, we live with you! Now get over here," Tony said bossily, rolling his eyes. Steve walked towards them and caught the controller that Clint tossed up to him, and then deliberately sat on the other side of Thor, farthest away from Tony as possible.

Luckily, Steve already knew the rules and how to play, because he had joined Clint and Tony a few times before. They ended up playing multiple rounds, and by the 6th or 7th race, Natasha and Bruce left. Clint or Tony won every time, and Steve, though he knew how to play, still didn't quite have it mastered like those two. He usually got 5th or 6th, but poor Thor was still getting last place every time.

"I do not understand this Midgardian game! It is broken! I am forced to be a tiny man with a red hat, and this vehicle that he drives must be slower than the others!" Thor yelled in frustration, throwing his controller on the ground.

"Hey big guy, be careful with that, " Tony said as he reached over Clint and picked up the controller, checking for damage.

"I am done with this awful excuse of entertainment." Thor said angrily, standing up. Steve reached out and grabbed his arm, before Thor could storm off.

"Hey, play one more race and I'll help you," Steve said gently. Thor considered for a moment, before crossly sitting back down and taking the controller back from Tony.

"Okay Friend Steve, explain to me how to play this Midgardian foolery." Steve told Thor a brief description of the rules and pointed out what each button did, ignoring Clint and Tony's sighs of impatience.

"Alright are you ready?" Steve asked, and Thor nodded, his face set in a look of determination.

The race began, and Steve continued to give Thor advice whenever he struggled. Tony and Clint zoomed past and were leading the race as usual, but Steve was intent on making sure Thor finished this round in a good mood.

"No you need to hold the button down in order to drive… yeah, there you go." Steve said, and smiled as Thor started to get the hang of it.

"Yeah it's a little difficult at first, but you'll get it." Steve encouraged. "Hey press gently on the buttons, so you don't, you know, break the controller,' Steve added with an undertone of concern when he noticed that Thor was not taking his incredible strength into consideration as he aggressively participated in the game.

"I am pressing gently!" Thor argued, but nonetheless did lighten his touch on the fragile controller, which improved his playing.

When the race ended, Thor had a massive smile on his face. "Look, Friend Steve, I did not get last place!" Thor looked so incredibly proud of himself that it caused Steve to let out a genuine smile without realizing it.

Luckily, Thor didn't realize that Steve had purposely gotten last place in order to make him happy. And he didn't need to find out.

They stood up and Steve was about to start cleaning up, when Thor startled him with a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you!" Thor said joyously.

"No problem," Steve responded weakly, quickly losing much needed oxygen.

Thor let him go, and with a smile still on his face, left the room to go do whatever he does in his free time.

Steve began to put the controllers away when he accidentally glanced Tony's way, in time to see the genius staring at him. Not expecting that, Steve began to feel flustered and quickly looked away, focusing on the task of cleaning the messy area.

Tony walked over and nudged him with his shoulder, his arm brushing Steve's as he put his controller away. Then Tony turned to face him, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, leaving Steve painfully aware of how close they were standing, less than a foot apart.

"Why are you so nice?" Tony's question took Steve aback, and the look in Tony's eyes was both impressed and scrutinizing, as if looking for an ulterior motive. Steve realized that Tony was a bit more observant than Thor, and the whole getting-last-on-purpose act had not gone unnoticed.

Steve shrugged, and tried to stay cool, but was fully aware of the warmth settling on his cheeks. "It was nothing," he said casually, wishing Tony would leave because he was getting uncomfortable feelings again.

"Oh my God, Captain Boy Scout. You. Are. Not. Real." Tony said, enunciating each word. Suddenly, his hands shot out and cupped Steve's face, and Tony was mockingly inspecting where his hands were pressed against Steve's skin, as if to see if his hands would go through like they would on a ghost.

Steve felt his heart beating so fast he thought it might fall out of his chest, and just lay, pulsing, on the floor. It got worse when Tony took one of Steve's hands in his, and examined it in a similar fashion, muttering something about Cap being a different, nicer, species. He knew for a fact there was a full blown blush on his face now, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Tony stopped looking at Steve's hand and moved his gaze back to his face, and Steve knew there was no possible way for Tony not to notice Steve's bright red, flaming cheeks. He knew he was toast when he saw the small twitch of a smirk appear on Tony's gorgeous face.

Crap, Steve, why did you have to think gorgeous?

Tony's eyes sparkled with mischief, and his smirk increased to the point of almost looking predatory. He took a step closer to Steve, tapping a finger on one of Steve's burning cheeks, and even going so far as to press a hand flirtatiously against Steve's chest. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Steve was suddenly unable to form a single word, and hastily backed away, feeling the butterflies in his stomach turning carnivorous and devouring his intestines. Unfortunately, he backed straight into the Wii, sending it crashing to the floor. He looked down at the mess he made, and then heard Tony burst out laughing, stepping away from Steve.

"I'm sorry, that was a low blow." Tony managed, still laughing. "You know, with you coming from the 40's and the homophobic age and all that, sorry I just had to. Don't worry, I wasn't really coming on to you,"

Steve stood there, still speechless. What? Tony thought he was blushing because he was _homophobic_ and that any contact with another man would send him into a flustered mess? Oh, God. The irony was about to swallow Steve whole.

Steve was about to correct Tony, and tell him that he wasn't homophobic at all (for obvious reasons), but then realized he would have no valid excuse to blush whenever Tony came within 10 feet of him. It was probably better to let Tony believe that Steve was homophobic, or at least "uncomfortable" with the idea of two men together, and then Tony would never guess that Steve actually had a crush on him.

Tony was still chuckling when he walked away, and Steve knew that he was probably going to tell Clint or someone the story of how he emotionally traumatized Captain America. Steve had a moment of panic of thinking about what if Clint told Tony the actual truth? Too many what-if's, and too many variables. It was best for Steve not to worry about what he couldn't control.

"Well, see you around, if you're not too busy helping old ladies cross the street and volunteering at the animal shelter, or whatever else it is that you do." Tony said teasingly when he finally walked out of the room, and left Steve numbly picking the Wii back up, his heart still beating fast, but the fire on his face finally receding.

According to his plan, Steve knew that he should be thinking of the best way to avoid Tony in the future, in order to protect his team and himself from pesky feelings and distractions. But all Steve could think of was the enchanting feel of Tony's hand against his chest, the gentle touch of Tony cupping Steve's face, and how if Steve had leaned in, Tony would've been close enough to kiss.

xxx

 **Guys, I'm actually really happy with how this chapter ended. I kinda had no idea where I was gonna go with it, but the ideas came as I was writing and it ended decently I suppose.**

 **Please review your thoughts, or if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism! Love it? Think I could change something to improve it? Let me know!**

 **Thanks!**

 **(P.S: No, I am not giving up on my other story, Delights of Stark Tower, I just have some writer's block for that one. Feel free to check it out)**


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